Posts Tagged ‘Training’

This last week of the year has been uneventful in the sense of running. I was still nursing the sprain. So how does one stay fit while unable to put weight on your ankle? Ok, no weight might be an exaggeration. Minimal weight. All braced up and nowhere to go, what am I supposed to do? There have been many exercises I have been neglecting over the past year. Strength training, stretching, core work… I find them so tedious. They are necessary, but their contributions are not instantly recognizable. How to make things interesting? Gamification!

What a great word, gamification. To make the mundane into a game. How to do that? All good games involve a level of chance, variety, and every increasing difficulty. What to do? I went to the local office supply store and picked up printable business cards. On each card I put an exercise, reps, and weight. The plan is as I complete the workout, I know if I should increase the reps or the weight each time. So how is the game played?

Each morning I roll a six-sided die, and add four to the result. That number is the number of cards I draw. That’s my workout routine. Just get it done. Combined they might be focused in one area, spread out, who knows. It’s all random. After each routine, I mark down right there before I can think straight, should I raise the weight or reps next time.

Exercise

Reps

Weight

The exercises I have so far are:

Calf Raise Squats

Step Back Lunges

Dead Lift Squats

Calf Raises

Superman

Hammer Curls

Seated Bicycles

Jump Squats

Alternating Reverse Lunges

Crossover Lunge

Running High Knees w/ Weight

Butt Kickers w/ Weight

Lateral Step Romanian Dead Lift

Alternating Split Squat Jumps

Dumbbell Front Squats

Lateral Lunges

Crossover Deadlift

Tuck Jumps

Burpees

Push Ups w/ Yoga Ball

Push Ups

Sit Ups

Sit Ups w/ Yoga Ball

Planks

Lower Body Russian Twist

Shoulder Shrugs

Curls

Throw the Bomb

Scissors

Mason Twist w/ Medicine Ball

The first week has been great. Next week, I’ll be adding 5 to the roll.

Hitting a step goal without running was very challenging. I have an office job, so my natural step count is very low. Add the sprain, and something that is normally difficult, becomes amazingly difficult. The solution was taking it real slow and walking on the treadmill while watching TV. Real slow, like 20+ minute pace per mile. I would like to report that I successfully did it.

So what’s next? 14k starting on Monday. I should be back on the streets by midweek, if not, 14k is going to be a challenge.

I want to keep increasing the variety of exercises over time to keep it interesting.

My question for you all is, are there any other exercises I should add to my deck? Take away?

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I am now two posts behind where I want to be. With running combined with work, I have just not had the time. It actually came down to choosing between running or blogging about running. I am not sorry to say, running won the day. This blog is to add to my runs, not take away from them.

I had two runs this weekend. I am proud of both, each for a different reason.

On Saturday I was scheduled to do only a 2 mile run. I had missed a 3 mile run earlier in the week, so I combined them. When I left my house, it was perfect running weather. Thirty one lightening strikes later, I was soaked to my core.

As I ran, a storm closed in on the area. I am proud of the run simply because I had many chances to head back as the weather worsened, but I toughed it out.

Mile one: I had seen 17 lightening flashes, but no rain. No one would tell me it was a bad decision to head in. Not feeling even a sprinkle, I kept going since there was not even a sprinkle.

Mile two: A couple waves of rain hit me. If I turn back now, I would be partially dry. My health is important, and no one would think less of me.

The halfway point: I would have been drier if I had gone swimming. The cold wind combined with the rain is a quick recipe for a cold. A quick turn up ahead and I could be at my house in a couple minutes…

Mile Four: There were now more puddles than exposed road. Most of my footfalls landed in inch deep water. Should I turn back? But then again, people would be impressed I was willing to go this far…

Mile Five: The skies cleared, the storm broke and I was heading home.

So there you have it. I set a goal, and I didn’t go home until it was done. I don’t care that nobody would have known if I had given up. I would have. That is why I am proud of that run.

Sunday was a different run. I had thirteen miles scheduled. My PR for distance is 13.1. I just picked up a new pair of shoes, time to test them on a nice long run.

I looked outside, and all I saw was rain. There is one thing to get caught in the rain, it is another to start in the rain. If I could run in the rain the day before, I could do it again. I grabbed my new rain jacket. Strangely, it matched my new shoes and shorts. I was about to go out in style.

Once I was suited up, I headed out. The moment I opened the door, a cold wind cut right through the jacket. It was far colder than it had been on Saturday. I looked up the road and watched the rain come down harder. I went back inside, gave a pathetic excuse to my wife, and took off my gear. I gave up. I choose not to go out.

After sitting down and trying to rationalize it to myself – “Hey, welcome to Quitters-ville!” – I stood up, redressed, and stepped out into the rain, which seemed to have let up somewhat. I was not coming home until I had finished a half marathon.

Less than a few feet into the run I was soaked. The jacket did nothing. There is no need to rehash the run mile by mile. It was wet and cold. After many staring eyes, being splashed by many cars, and endless deep puddles, the run was done. I am proud of the run simply because I got out there. The greatest obstacle to your own success is yourself, not the world outside. It is merely a decision to overcome that is all it takes sometimes.

At the end my pace was 11’23” and I was about ten pounds heavy with rain water.

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This was the weekend of bad runs. I don’t want to dwell on it so much, just report it and move on.

On Saturday I needed to log 2 miles. 2 miles is nothing. Well, it’s nothing unless your shins scream in pain for the entire run. My goal was to beat my earlier pace, 9’42”. I ended with a pace of 10’31”. I lost almost an entire minute off my pace. Deplorable!

On Sunday, the day’s planned run was 12 miles. If I was feeling up to it, I intended to push for an extra 1.1 miles. That’s right, I was going for a half marathon distance. I have only done that once before. It was time for a repeat. My legs were feeling better, and I was ready. Little did I know that fate had other plans.

I run with a Nike Running Hydration Belt, or rather I used to. It has four bottles and each holds four ounces. I hadn’t used them since last fall, and when I went to run on Sunday, I could only locate three bottles and only one lid. What does that mean? I could only carry four ounces of Gatorade. That should have been enough right? Wrong, so wrong.

When I left, 11 AM, the temperature outside was 65⁰. By the 12:30 it was 88⁰. By the end, the sun was burning my face. I was through those four ounces of Gatorade in no time. Around mile seven I could feel my legs shutting down. Over and over I kept saying to myself, “just a little further.” At mile eight my mind screamed back “LIAR!!!!” My pace dropped from the mid 11s to 13s. I soon realized I could walk faster. With no pride, I ended the run. The final results were 8.9 miles at pace of 11’47”.

That isn’t the worse part. I now had to walk home. It felt like a walk of shame. This has been the second time I have not succeeded in my running goal for distance. In fact, I normally feel like I can do more. At first I questioned where my strength went. After a mile or so I started wondering if I could ever do a full marathon. Even with a couple short cuts, it was still a three-mile walk home. I knew I made the right decision since I stumbled several times on the road home. If I had more liquids I could easily have done the run. I also should definitely have worn my hat. So many “ifs” and so little time. After several mental debates, I decided that I can do the distance.

I am not a superstitious person. The universe does not curse a particular day of the week since an arbitrary date falls upon it. There are enough irrational people in this world, and I have no desire to be one of them. I have known quite a few people who claim not to be superstitious, except when it comes to the number “13.” To combat this, I have embraced the number as much as I can, or at least to notice where the number “13” shows up in my life. It ranges from my shoe size, my ring size, my birthday (1-3), the fact that I get off at the thirteenth stop on the train, and so on. If “13” truly was an unlucky number, I would probably be dead by now, given how often it comes up in my life.

Why am I bringing up Friday the 13th when it carries no power to me? I want to put into context my evening run, and how if I did believe the day was bad luck, this evening would have reinforced it.

With all good curses, things start out small with imperceptible strange coincidences. Over time it builds until you question your sanity and sense of reason.

Throughout the day a shooting pain had stabbed along my shin. When the pain occurred it came on so suddenly and unexpectedly, I would almost lose my balance. After the third time, I started questioning my health. Did I injure myself and not know it? Was it a muscle or bone issue? A great way to start a run.

I owed myself two runs from nights this week when I hadn’t gotten to run, one 6 miles, the other 2. Given that I have a 12 miler on Sunday, I figured the 2 miler should be on Saturday. After getting home and having dinner on this Friday the 13th, the earliest I could hit the road was 10:15 PM. Yes, I am that guy that goes out running after 10 on a Friday night. If you have been reading, you know I have started focusing on my pace, and not just the distance. So off I went.

Coming around the bend at the end of mile one, a couple stood chatting on the sidewalk I was running on. As I approached, they decided to start walking the same direction I was running. It happens, so I passed them. Around a mile and half, a minivan approached along the street. The driver turned and pulled into a driveway along my path. He didn’t pull all the way in, but left a half a car length to spare. This blocked the sidewalk. Maybe he didn’t see me. The interior light came on, the driver opened his door and looked at me. As I circled around behind the minivan, I heard the familiar beep beep sound as the rear door began to open, just as I was running by it. So he saw me, and he still opened the door! Best case scenario, opening the door forces me to run further in the middle of the street in the middle of night. Worst case, he was trying to hit me.

My route winds throughout the neighborhood. The couple I saw earlier must have taken a shorter route since I passed them again. Over the course of the next couple miles I avoided three other cars parked over the sidewalk and not pulled all the way into their driveway. Minor annoyances, nothing deadly and in a vacuum, it isn’t worth noting; however it was Friday the 13th.

Passing two and a half miles the couple was ahead of me again. They approached a corner where the sidewalk and street end at a cross street. I normally cross the street and make a right. I noticed cars approaching from the left a little too fast for my taste. When that occurs, I normally turn left, run for a bit, and then cross. This prevents me from crossing a street with cars nearby. That is on a normal night. But normal does not seem to be on the table for this evening.

The couple stops. This isn’t them just slowing down, they stop abruptly. They don’t just stop anywhere. They stop between the tree and the road, the only narrow “safe” space between a traffic filled road and the trees. This forces me into the street, and into the path of an approaching car. As I pass from the safety of the ending sidewalk and directly onto the road, they give me the stink eye, as if somehow I made the mistake of encroaching upon them.

Eventually, I turn down the dead end street that had been occupied by the opossum on a different night not too long ago. At the end of the street a white car is parked facing me. The driver flashed his lights not once, but three times. THREE TIMES! He then decided to leave the high beams on, though it was a well-lit street. Are you afraid I didn’t see you, Mr. Parked Car? Three or four car-lengths out, he started driving, high beams still on. My night vision is now shot. I was nearly at the half-way point of my run at that point, thank goodness.

A little while later, I noticed a white car parked on the side of the road. In the car I could see two small glowing embers. They would burn bright for a moment and then dim away. When I saw a few strides closer I detected a scent I haven’t smelled in some time – pot. These two are smoking up on the side of the street. It then hits me; it is the same car that flashed their high beams at me. They aren’t good at hiding the fact that they are smoking. The area is just flooded with the scent.

By mile four I was in the final stretch. Sitting at the three-way stop intersection was a jeep. It sat there, and sat there and sat there. I needed to cross the street. Would he turn towards me or not? Would he wait? He can’t go straight, that is a house, and left would be near me. As I got closer, the jeep began to move slowly. The driver was looking for something on the floor, and obviously unable to find it. The car began to idle slowly into the intersection. The car drifted across most the intersection before the driver’s head ever emerged. Finally he popped his head up and slammed on the brakes. Any further and he would have been in someone’s yard, and in my path to getting home. He most likely would have hit the curb and maybe even knocked some since into himself.

The rest of the run was uneventful. The question is, was the run cursed, or was it good luck that none of those events became terrible accidents? Next time should I bring out a few lucky charms (no, not the cereal), or should I trust in fate?

My goal was to beat my 6 mile pace of 11’35”. Results, 10’52”. Time to celebrate with a chai smoothie.

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This evening I decided that for my 5 mile run, I would watch my pace. I know I can do the distance. The question is, can I improve? After reviewing my past two months of runs, my fastest pace for a 5 miler was 10’28”. I changed a couple settings on the watch, and I was off.

To track my running, I use the Nike GPS Sportswatch. Its giant screen makes it easy to see my stats. Every few minutes I glance down and check my progress. The plan was, if my pace was slower than 10’30,” I would speed up.

After the first mile I cramped up. I had eaten a Powerbar Energy Bite before leaving, and my body just does not like these things. They will now be for post-run snacks, or WAY pre-run snacks. Well, you can’t give up on a race after only one mile. I checked the watch for my pace, which was still good.

Pushing through the pain, I kept moving. For the first three miles I didn’t have any problems maintaining a sub 10’30” pace. Then I met mile three. Why hello mile three, how are you doing? You have a gift for me? How nice of you to bring the cramp back, and with a vengeance too! No matter what part of mile three I was on, I could not reach my goal. I needed be able to get back on pace. But with every step, the cramp worsened.

Turning the corner on mile four, the cramp washed away. I don’t know what made it disappear, but I’m glad it did. No time to question, time to run. I picked up the pace to make up for lost time.

On the last mile I pushed to catch up. I knew that it would be close, but I also knew that I had a chance if I pushed hard. I had forgotten to add the statistic “average pace” to my watch for the run, so all I had to judge my progress was “elapsed time” and “current pace.” Time for some quick math! Rather, time for some rough guessing.

My run ended in my driveway. I hit stop in mid step, not wanting a full stop to mess up my time. My final pace was 10’21”. That’s right, a new PR for my five mile run. For all my short to medium runs, I plan on using the pace screen. I am still going to use the distance screen the long runs for now.

Now it was time for a post run smoothie. I decided to mix it up, and concocted a chai tea smoothie. I am not sure what inspired this, other than the box of chai tea mix in the fridge. I decided to make it simple, since I could always alter the recipe later if it wasn’t right.

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For those of you who read my last post, in the comments you may have noticed that someone offered to put together a team for the Army Ten-Miler. Since he is in the reserves, he gets to register two weeks before the general public. What does that mean? I can’t “forget” to register in time. I never realized that there are so many races in Washington, DC, which is a city I love. I believe everyone has a city, one that fits them and is a reflection of their inner self. So why is it DC for me? It is a very different city than most large US metropolises. Its layout and city planning are very open. In 1910 a law was passed to limit the height of newly constructed buildings. What this creates is a city that is open to the sky. Add to that the Roman architecture, and you get a sense of the culture and history. There are places like Rock Creek Park, which is like a piece of nature cutting deep into the heart of the city. Numerous memorials and monuments litter the city, each with their own history and story. I could go on and on about DC. However, I will not. I’ll save that for another post, perhaps. For now, let’s get back to the Army Ten-Miler (ATM).

So a reader and contributor offered to put together a team. Now we just need runners. I have started the process to reach out and recruit for this team. After reading up on the race, I learned that if you don’t cross the five mile marker by 9:45 AM they end your race. At first I thought the race started at 9 AM. That would mean you need to run a 9’00” pace. Not bad, faster than me, but not bad. Then it hit me; that only works if you are in the first wave. There is no way I could make that! I took a deep breath. I had agreed to do it, so it meant I would just need to train harder. Before I let panic mode set in, I decided to look up that race start time. Turns out that it starts at 8:00 AM. I can do that. I’m ready for that run. Now with that out of the way, on to my Easter run.

I woke up this morning and the Easter Bunny had given each of my kids, my wife and me each a basket full of treats. Ah, the Easter Bunny, you deliver to me once of my vices, the jelly bean. Or rather, a large quantity of jelly beans. It is only fitting that I had planned to run ten miles on Easter. It is the best way to burn off the calories that would surely be consumed in jelly bean form. Did I mention that I love jelly beans?

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I normally bring hydration with me for any run ten miles or longer. I also bring with me a snack, PowerBar Energy Blasts. Unfortunately, I am out of energy blasts. Instead, I opened a pack of PowerBar Energy Bites. Not quite the same thing, not even close. They are too dry to eat while running, so they are only good for a pre-run bite. Therefore, I have decided to sign up for a monthly delivery of Energy Blasts through Amazon.com to make sure this oversight doesn’t happen again.

This is also my first planned long run since my sprain. It has been more than a few months since I needed my hydration bottles, and now they are missing. I knew this would make for an interesting run. On top of that, this run would be along the same path I took on the day I sprained my ankle. It sounds like a bad sequel, “Rural Run 2: This time, no hydration or snacks.” If I had brought jelly beans as my snack, it would have seemed somehow wrong. So off I went with nothing but the one small 6 ounce bottle of Gatorade I could find and an iPod.

When I left the house, I was already tired from two hours of walking around the zoo with the family this morning. The first three miles of the run were rough. Out the door I already had a headache, and my right knee, right shin, and left ankle were all screaming at me. No matter the pain, I always give my run at least two miles to let the joints lube up and get the juices flowing. By mile two, it still wasn’t feeling good. I decided to give it another mile, just one more. By mile three, no pain… only the road. The run itself was uneventful until the run back. On mile seven I encountered another runner – human this time. She was ahead of me at one point. Her pace was similar to mine. I pushed to catch up in order to have a companion on the lonely road. Sadly, she turned in a different direction than my intended route. So then I was alone once again. It had been good to see another runner. I hadn’t felt so crazy to be out there in the middle of nowhere.

By mile eight I was approaching the place where I had sprained my ankle. Not this time. I watched each footfall to make sure they landed securely. I noticed the size of the potholes in the area. No wonder I had sprained my ankle!

As I said, the run was uneventful. The most important part was that I completed it. This is the longest run I have done since the sprain, with an OK pace of 11’20.” Not the greatest, but good enough. The true test will be tomorrow morning. By then my ankle will tell me how good of a run it truly was.

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Three more runs down. They didn’t quite happen on the correct days, or in the correct order, but they are done.

Wednesday: 4 Miles – Treadmill Interval Training (Originally Tuesday)

Thursday: 6 Miles – Outdoor Long Distance Pace

Friday: 2 Miles – Outdoor 5k Race Pace (Originally Wednesday)

Exhaustion and working late keep disrupting my plans. In fact, as I am writing this I am nodding off. Why are there only 24 hours in the day? To be fair, everyone has 24 hours in a day. It is how you allot that time that determines your success at anything. Of course, my body right now is playing the veto card on my choices.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, during his speech to the graduates of the University of Southern California in 2009, addressed the issue of sleep.

“I’ve always figured out that there 24 hours a day. You sleep six hours and have 18 hours left. Now, I know there are some of you out there that say well, wait a minute, I sleep eight hours or nine hours. Well, then, just sleep faster, I would recommend.

Because you only need to sleep six hours and then you have 18 hours left, and there are a lot of things you can accomplish.”

I am surprised to hear the Terminator needed to sleep at all! All joking aside, the rules are so simple. Why are they so hard to follow?

While on the night road I met only one evening runner. The encounter occurred as I entered a dead end around the third mile. He stopped his run, and stared as I approached. For some reason he seemed fixated on me. I don’t think he even blinked. I noticed his drool formed a pool on the pavement beneath his small, dirty feet. I closed the distance to the end of the street. He waited. A few steps closer my eyes adjusted and focused while his beady eyes reflected back the streetlight. Then he bolted in a nearby bush.

This evening prowler was an opossum, a dirty, dirty opossum. Its face was ghost white, its body a light grey. They are some creepy animals. They look like rats on steroids. I would say I would not want to meet one in a dark alley, but I pretty much did.

I started the six mile run tired. I ended tired. The pace was terrible. During the run I felt terrible. The wind was terrible. I shall dub this run “terrible.” But I got out there and finished it. It needed to be done. Sometimes training isn’t fun. Sometimes it isn’t pretty. Sometimes it just needs to be done.

With the run done and behind me, I felt great. No matter how bad the run, I find it cleans out my stress and worries. They may come back later, but for a few glorious seconds, my mind is free of all things save the sound of my pounding heart, and the deep breathing of my lungs.

My two mile runs are really meant to keep a close eye on my pace and beat out my previous 5k race pace. Of course I should have checked before I left. I figured it was somewhere south of 10’00” and that is what I kept an eye on. The two-miler ended up at 9’46”. Sadly the 5k was less than that, 9’36”. Next time I will aim for 9’30”. This run was a nice finisher to three days of running. It was lite, just hard enough, and timely. Being on a Friday, it was a nice way to end out the work week and clear the mind. Typically I listen to music on short runs, this was no different. I asked for music suggestions on a previous post and Queen and the Police were nominated. I like to mix things up so for this run I ran with the Sucker Punch the Soundtrack. More importantly I ran to track number 4, a mash up of “I want it all” and “We will rock up.” It is composed by Armageddon aka Geddy. I don’t know much about him, but I do know it is a fantastic mash up of two great Queen songs.

Looking over my marathon training schedule, I realized there is a crucial flaw. A vital problem, it seems. I am training for a non-existent marathon! I have not signed up for one, nor even found a possible one. I need help. I need to find a marathon for the September 22nd or the 23rd. I want my first one to be a good experience. It doesn’t have to be a giant event, just a good one. I need to start looking. Any suggestions?

All and all, it was not an eventful week of runs. Tomorrow is a ten-miler around my neighborhood. It will be good to get above ten miles again. The time commitment is going to increase, of course. The longer the run, the more time it will take. Solution? Speed up! Time to do some speed work.

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I have completed my first week of marathon training. How many times have I said that? Three to be precise. Or rather, this is my third attempt. Third time’s the charm right? It seems injury always finds me during a marathon training schedule. The first injury was a busted rib, and the second an ankle. Well, the past is behind me and nothing but the road is ahead.

Maybe I should trick myself. I am not training for a marathon. I am training for two half marathons back to back with no break. It would be very sad if I could trick myself that way.

During this week I had scheduled three treadmill sessions (interval training) and an outdoor run of eight miles. Not only did I accomplish that, I added an extra treadmill session. I just had to see one more episode of Game of Thrones. We all need our little inspirations.

My pace on the outdoor run was less than spectacular. No excuses, I will take the fact that I got out there as a mild success and do better next time. That just sounds pathetic. I got out there, I got it done. On a Sunday night there isn’t much to see on the road.

I had two encounters on my run. The first was a squad car. She paced me down a dark road, and turned away when I returned to the lite section of the neighborhood. I don’t know if she was bored, or wanted to provide me some extra light for my evening run. It was that, or she thought I was cute, or maybe worried that I might get mugged. The other interesting sight was a young couple I passed on three occasions. By the third time they finally acknowledged me. It doesn’t matter. They were too busy walking down the street, each keeping a hand warm in the others back pocket. Strange events are the norm for my runs; every now and then I need an uneventful one.

I have decided to sponsor, or rather trick, my office into a 5k race on April 1st. I convinced three other people to join me. We are attending the Chester Community Physical Therapy Clinic “Run like a Fool” 5k. It is a small race, but I have the bug and I need to get out there again.

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This was an exciting run, to say the least. It started late, but not too late. My plan was to run eleven miles. As you can see from the statistics above, that didn’t happen. The entire run felt great, right up until the end. No question about it, cars with high beams were not my friends on this night. This time it was personal.

OK, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic, but it did end my run for the night.

My pace was uniform, decent for a long run, and other than the occasional car turning on their high beams, it was a good run. With the winter setting in, night has been coming earlier and earlier, and it always surprises me just how early it is getting dark. I watched night fall about one-third of the way through my “afternoon” run.

On the last stretch home, the road is without street lights or sidewalks. This is the part of my run that has always worried me the most. The only saving grace is it is only one and three-quarter miles, straight away. Normally this is a quiet road, with very little traffic. However, this time my biggest fear about nighttime running came true.

I could see a car approaching me for quite a while before he reached me. He should have been able to see me too, and apparently he did, because he turned on his high beams. This, of course, turned off my night vision. I stepped into the underbrush to allow him to pass. When I returned to the road, I stepped right into a pothole that I could no longer see, twisted my ankle, and fell on the ground. Using my right hand, I narrowly avoided taking a face plant into the concrete. I was crouched down, unable to move, on a dark road. To make matters worse, another car was quickly approaching from the same direction as the previous one had. I don’t think he saw me, since I was so low to the ground. I crawled off the road slowly, and the car passed by.

Finally, luck was with me. Shortly after my fall, a car pulled up from behind to see if I was ok. He had seen me fall and wanted to know if I needed a ride. His name was Al, and he was heading out to get some Chinese food. He saved me from the long hobble home by driving me the last mile and a half. I don’t know if I would have made it otherwise.

When I got home, I realized I had lost one of the water bottles that fits into my hydration belt, as well as my $70 heart monitor. Talk about adding insult to injury – literally! At the end of the day, I am thankful that a stranger name Al stopped by and picked me up. I don’t know what makes me angrier – losing my heart monitor, or not completing my run.

Update: On Monday morning I drove by the spot where I tripped and found both the bottle and heart monitor.

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My scheduled run did not occur, once again, last night. Thanksgiving, a day of family and feasts, got in the way; that, and falling asleep on the couch. Yet again, everything is being pushed back. So today, Friday, I ran seven miles. Saturday will be intense, with three sessions of P90X just to get me back on track. I’m scheduled to run eleven miles on Sunday. So much distance, so little time.

My pace today was slow even with the day of rest and turkey. I am disappointed in my results; I should have pushed harder. Recently I heard on a video, “if you can still get back up, you didn’t push hard enough.” So I am clearly not pushing hard enough, because I can still walk.

I need to incorporate speed work into my routine. With some practice, I hope that my pace will increase and that I will get these runs done faster. The biggest downside I have found to this sport is time. If the miles keep increasing, soon I won’t have time to sleep; I only get five hours as it is. Looking over the remaining eight weeks, and if I keep the same pace, I will be running until midnight every other night. Mind you, I like the increased miles and calorie burn, but time is very valuable to me. I guess my sacrifice is sleep.

It is truly amazing what an elite runner like Ryan Hall is capable of accomplishing. The mind boggling fact of the video is that he maintains that pace for the entire marathon. It also makes for an interesting advertisement.

I only have one observation from this run: I have noticed that some people feel the need to turn their high beams on when I am running towards them. I’m not sure why. I see them just fine with their normal headlights. Can you not see the six foot three guy running along the sidewalk towards you? Do you need to flood the street with light in order to see me? Do you need to blind me, so I smack into low hanging, leafless branches? That makes them essentially switches cutting me across the face. Maybe I should thank them for adding some sense of danger to my runs.

There is only one week left until my first race. The goal is to simply learn the etiquette of it. I need to learn how to run in a group before I can hope to run a longer race.